


The Playground Across the Street

by ericsonclan



Series: Ericson's Diner AU [36]
Category: The Walking Dead (Telltale Video Game)
Genre: Backstory, F/M, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Siblings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-18
Updated: 2020-09-18
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:54:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26535418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ericsonclan/pseuds/ericsonclan
Summary: Violet meets up with Prisha and Prisha introduces her to someone special.
Relationships: Prisha/Violet (Walking Dead: Done Running)
Series: Ericson's Diner AU [36]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1688374
Kudos: 3





	The Playground Across the Street

**Author's Note:**

> (by Laura)

Violet made her way down the sidewalk, curious as to where exactly she was heading. Prisha had told her to meet her for lunch and dropped a pin revealing her current location though. As far as Violet could tell, there weren’t any restaurants on the street she was being guided to. There was a school, a laundromat, a retirement home… what exactly did Prisha have planned? Whatever it was, knowing Prisha the location was no accident. Violet knew she’d get answers soon enough.

She spotted Prisha as soon as she rounded the corner. Her girlfriend was wearing a fitted brown winter coat, a scarf tucked elegantly round her neck. Violet felt self-conscious for a moment about her hoodie and sweatpants, but quickly brushed away the thought. Prisha never seemed to care about things like that. Walking over, Violet stood beside Prisha, awkwardly clearing her throat to signal her presence.

Prisha jumped as though shaken from a stupor. She turned to Violet with a soft smile. “Vi, you’re here,” Her hand reached out, effortlessly intertwining with Violet’s. “Sorry for the air of mystery surrounding this date. I suppose I feared I’d lose my nerve somewhere along the way so I kept my motives vague,”

Violet shrugged. “It’s no big deal,” Her eyebrow quirked as she noticed Prisha’s expression did not agree with that statement. “Is it?”

Prisha shook her head. “Perhaps, it shouldn’t be, but it is to me. We’ll go to lunch shortly, but there’s someone I wanted you to meet first,” She gestured across the street towards the raucous schoolyard where students were laughing and playing on the playground equipment. “Do you see that boy over there, climbing across the monkey bars? That’s my little brother Sanjay,”  
Violet squinted, trying to spot the kid she was talking about. There he was, zooming across the monkey bars with the excited dexterity of a child who’d been waiting for recess all day. It was too far away to see him very clearly, but even from here she could recognize the resemblance. He shared the same strong nose and jawline as Prisha. He looked like he’d fit right in with Tenn and Willy on their mad dashes through the restaurant.

Prisha’s eyes were locked on her brother. Violet turned from watching him to study her. She hadn’t seen Prisha quite like this before: melancholy and almost fragile. Every day she worked behind the bar she seemed to exude enough confidence to set any troublemakers in their place, but standing here on this empty sidewalk she looked lost. It was as if the wrong question would crack the cool façade she often wrapped herself in. Violet ran her calloused thumb up and down the side of Prisha’s hand, hoping the touch would provide some sort of comfort.  
Finally, Prisha found her voice again, though her tone was softer than usual. “I told you what happened when I came out to my parents,”

Violet nodded. They’d kicked her out a week later.

Prisha’s eyes were glassy. “I was determined that their rejection wouldn’t break me. If they couldn’t accept me as I was, then I would forge my own path without them. And that’s what I did for years: working any jobs I could find, taking night classes, saving every penny I could so I would never have to crawl back to them in hopes of falling on their good graces,” A tear slipped from Prisha’s eye, quickly trailing down her cheek. “But Sanjay didn’t abandon me. I was the one who abandoned him,”

Violet squeezed Prisha’s hand, trying to help ground her. “That’s not on you. You said your parents wouldn’t let you visit, not unless you took back what you said,”

Prisha shook her head. “I should have tried. Sanjay was only eight when I left. Now look at him. He’ll be thirteen next March,”

The girls were silent as they continued watching the children play. Sanjay seemed to be well-liked. He had a pack of friends that followed him and joined in each activity he undertook from four square to jump rope to basketball. Violet noticed Prisha occasionally smile despite the tears. She was proud of her brother. It wasn’t fair that she had to stay separated from him simply because of her parents’ bigotry. Violet wished she could change things, but she was utterly powerless to accomplish anything. All she could do was stand here beside her girlfriend and hope things would be OK.

Prisha bit her lip, her eyes drifting down to the ground. The toe of her boot absentmindedly scuffed at a fallen leaf. “Sometimes I wonder if things would be different if I had held out longer. Perhaps then the separation wouldn’t be as absolute. I could have stayed silent, kept my true feelings a secret. Maybe Sanjay would remember me then as more than just the sister who vanished from his life without a trace,”

Violet thought back to her own home life. There had never really been a good moment to come out. There hadn’t been many good moments at all. Her parents hadn’t picked up on her orientation either. More often than not her dad was drunk and her mom was outside of the house most of every day working multiple jobs. She’d approached the issue as she had everything else at home: hiding away in hopes that she could slip through that period of her life with as little shit as possible. She was glad she was free. But she was proud of Prisha in a different sense. With everything to lose she’d put it all on the line to let her family know who she really was, and despite being rejected she still stayed true to herself. Violet admired her bravery more than she could adequately express. 

She cleared her throat though, wanting to at least say something. “Even if Sanjay doesn’t know why you left, that doesn’t mean he thinks you’re a bad sister. Kids’ brains are weird; who knows what sort of crazy theories he’s come up with? And once he’s old enough to do things on his own, I wouldn’t be surprised if he tried to reach out to you himself. It’s not that hard with social media. Besides, you still live in the area. That’s why you never moved that far away, right?”

Prisha looked rather surprised at the statement, but slowly nodded. “I suppose that’s right. I never really thought of it that coherently, but perhaps there’s still part of me that’s holding out hope,”

The school bell rang. They watched as the children reluctantly ran across the schoolyard and toward the building, forced to start their lessons once more.

Violet felt a hand slip round her back. Her eyes widened in surprise as Prisha pulled her into a tight hug. She quickly accepted it though, her own arms curling round to pull Prisha closer. Her heart raced as she felt Prisha’s breath tickling her ear.

“Thank you, Violet. For letting me show you this and for understanding. You’re so precious to me,”

Violet buried her head in the crook of Prisha’s neck, too overwhelmed to form a reply. She knew Prisha understood though. She could hear the smile entering Prisha's voice as she chuckled. “It’s cold, isn’t it? We should head to lunch. There’s a charming bistro just a few blocks from here,” 

“Do they serve chicken nuggets?”

“Would you rather we find a McDonald’s?” Prisha’s tone was teasing, but Violet knew she’d change their plans if needed.

“Nah. I can try something new,” Violet linked her arm with Prisha’s, slipping her hand into her girlfriend’s coat pocket. “Let’s go,” 

They headed down the street arm in arm. They couldn’t change their pasts, but their futures were brighter together.


End file.
